Improvement in blades of mowing-machines



NTTED STATES ATENT' Trice.

G USTAVUS STONE, OF BELOIT, VISGONSIN.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 14,070, dated January 8, 1856.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GUSTAVUS STONE, of' Beloit, in Rock county, State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and Improved Form ot' Grass-Cutting Blades for Blowing-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference heilig had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a part of the mower-sill, with the fingers (or guards) and grass-cutting blade attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a top view of the grass-cutting blade. Fig. 3 is a back view ofthe same. Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the same; Fig. 5, a representation ofthe two pieces that make one section ofthe grass-cutting blade; Fig. 6, a sect-ion of the grass-cutting blades made in the old way.

A B, A B, the., are the two pieces ot' steel that make up one section of the grass-cutting blade; G, the sickle-bar, to which the-sections are riveted; D D, &c., the cutting-edges of the blade; E, the mower-sill, F F, Src., the fingers or guards; J J, &c., the openings between the pieces which make up each section.

The grass-cutting blades hitherto in common use in mowing-machines are made by riveting to a bar of iron sections of steel, each of which is a single piece, and has two cutting-edges beveled in opposite directions from a central point. Fig. 6 represents oneot these sections, D D being' the cutting-edges. These edges cut alternately as the bar is moved in opposite directions, so as to bring each section under a finger or guard, against which it makes a shearing cut. These cutters frequently draw the tine grass in between the cuttingsections and the lingers or guards, where it hangs and clogs the machine, renderingit nearly useless. Different plans have been tried for overcoming this difficulty, all ot'which, however, use the same general form of section with two cntting-edges upon the same piece of steel. My improvement consists in making each section of the cutting-blade of two pieces ot steel, A andB, with hutone cntting-edge,D, upon each, and in placing them upon the bar C in such a way that their cutting-edges shall face in opposite directions, and that there shall be a wedge-shaped opening, J, between their backs, closed at their points, but widening out toward the bar C. These pieces, AB,AB, Src., may be fastened to the bar O with rivets or screws, or in any other well-known way. This manner of making the grass-cuttin g blades allows each cutting-edge D to be adj usted in its place separately, and therefore more perfectly than heretofore. The space J between the backs ofthe pieces A and B ot' each section ei'cctual'ly prevents the grass from clogging in the tingers br guards. This plan has been fully tested and found fully to succeed, when, in consequence ot' their clogging, the common mode has failed entirely, and the whole may be constructed at a reduced cost. The advantages of this Way of making the blades are, first, the great saving of the sheet-steel from which they are cut, there being very little waste; second, their being in sections, should one section become injured, which often happens, only one-halt' instead ot` a whole tooth is lost; third, the opening extending from point to heel ofthe blade, has just so much more clearing-space than where a hole is punched through. I do not punch at all. The sections in being cut from the sheet or bar are linished, so far as shape is concerned. The sections I use can be made from the waste metalin Forbushs plan, and this saving alone is very important. Besides, I have a clearing-surface for the whole depth ot' the blade, which is not found on any blade of which I have knowledge. i

I do not claim the invention ot' mowing-machines, or of the several parts thereof, generally; but

Whatl do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The making the sections ot' which the grasscutting blades are usuallymade of two pieces of steel, A and B, with but one cutting-edge, D, upon each, and so placing them upon the bar O that there shall be a wedge-shaped opening,J, between their backs, closed at the points and widening out toward the bar.

GUSTAVUS STONE.

Witnesses:

ROGER H. MILLS, A. L. UHAPIN. 

